Palm Coast Families Rebuild Amid Rekindled Fear Of Fire

May 17, 1986|By Robin Benedick of The Sentinel Staff

PALM COAST — Stacks of charred tree limbs, uprooted trunks and the burned-out shells of two houses are constant reminders of the wildfires that burned 22,000 acres and reduced 131 homes to smoking rubble one year ago today.

Flames and smoke engulfed this community of mostly retired residents during the worst of about 30 fires in Florida that destroyed more than 100,000 acres. Burned timber, fallen trees and overgrown brush along U.S. Highway 1 in Palm Coast, which once resembled a forest, are stark reminders of the pain and suffering that uprooted 101 families.

The afternoon fires caught many by surprise. Losses were immeasurable. Many escaped the fires with only the clothes they were wearing.

Some residents say they no longer fear another fire. But they acknowledge that the dry weather and strong winds that fueled the May 17, 1985, disaster prevail a year later.

The question in the minds of most people here is could it happen again? Have any lessons been learned to prevent a similar tragedy?

''There's really nothing left to burn,'' said Mildred Johnson, 60, of Palm Coast's Belle Terre subdivision, as she knelt beside a withered, 2-foot pine tree planted in January. ''We are praying for rain.''

Rainfall in the area is below normal this year, but five inches more rain, or 11.06 inches, fell in the first five months of 1986 than in the same period last year, said forecaster Terry Ingoldsby, of the National Weather Service at Daytona Beach Regional Airport.

Ingoldsby said the area has not had much rain since January, when it got four inches more than normal.

Flagler County District Forester Mike Kuypers said that with the right weather conditions, ''fires like that could certainly happen again.''

Those conditions would include months of dry weather, winds exceeding 30 mph and humidity levels below 45 percent. That's what it was like May 17, 1985.

New homes are sprouting up across the barren landscape. This week, bulldozers and earthmovers were plowing the dry soil for new houses. Dump trucks made frequent trips through the area.

Kuypers said more than half the homes destroyed have been rebuilt. About 200 homes that were damaged have been or are being refurbished. About 30 percent of the homes in Palm Coast burned to the ground but no one was killed or seriously injured.

The fires caused about $44 million in damage in Palm Coast alone, officials said.

ITT Community Development Corp., which developed Palm Coast, has cut down about 1.2 million burned trees and planted 710,000 seedlings, or about 150 trees per acre, in the hope of turning the area back into a forest. Thousands more trees, mainly pines, will be replanted in the fall because of a high mortality rate and the lack of rainfall.

But near the home of Eleanora and Ralph Blaso sits one of the charred shells of two homes that have not been demolished. The foundation is surrounded by dried palmettos.

''It brings back a lot of bad memories,'' said Mrs. Blaso, 71. She and her husband recently moved into a new three-bedroom, two-bath house on the site of their destroyed home.

Nearly every day, Mrs. Blaso waters the 10 new trees planted on the couple's lot. Her favorite tree, nicknamed ''Charlie'' by her husband, receives the most attention. The six or so 2-foot-high trees planted by ITT have died.

Ralph Blaso, 68, lost a $90,000 collection of irreplaceable toy trains in the fire. He has since begun collecting ships. After starting his new collection with a 3 1/2-foot-tall mahogany sailing ship, which sits on a mantle in his new house, Blaso received a surprise in the mail.

In February, an inmate of the Tomoka Correctional Facility sent him a handmade silk boat after reading about the couple's plight in a newspaper.

Mrs. Blaso said the gift reflects a community spirit that helped pull residents through the calamity. But she also said that many of her friends who lost homes in the fire grabbed insurance money and abandoned the area. ''We are surrounded by all new neighbors,'' she said.

At her home in a cul-de-sac near the Swim and Racquet Club, Jean Gavel cares for the 57 trees recently planted on her lot. Gavel, 57, and her husband, Andrew, 62, bought a lot in Belle Terre a month before the fire and moved in last October. ''I had psyched myself up into seeing trees, but I saw nothing but ashes,'' she said.

Their home had not been built when the fires swept through.

Six months after their 1977 Gremlin melted in the two-car garage, Larry and Mildred Johnson moved into a duplicate home, which they slightly upgraded.

Like others, they planted trees on their property, including two 20-foot laurel oaks, realizing it could be years before they feel at home again.

''Starting from scratch hasn't been that easy,'' Mrs. Johnson said.

Although residents are pleased that trees have been replanted, some criticize ITT for not removing the piles of burned twigs and dozens of dead tree stumps and limbs that litter lots. The debris is an eyesore and a fire hazard, the residents complain.